Sports Illustrated article accuses former Buffs

This article originally stated the name CU Buff Knavis McGhee, that was a typo. The story now correctly reads former CU Buff Kanavis McGhee. This article last updated at 12:57 p.m. on Oct. 14.

In a new Sports Illustrated article three former CU Buffs are alleged to have taken money from an agent hoping to represent them.

In the article titled “Confessions of an Agent,” Josh Luchs details how in his early days as an agent, he paid many college football players in hopes of representing them. The anecdotes start with an incident in 1990 involving CU linebacker Kanavis McGhee. The article also alleges that former Buffs Joel Steed and Greg Thomas took money from Luchs.

CU athletic department spokespeople have denied all allegations made against their former players.

“These are allegations that are some 20-years-old, and as one of the few people who remain associated with the program that was present at the time, I have no recollection of these events, and also severely doubt the credibility of the accusations and question the motive of the agent involved,” said David Plati, the sports information director for CU.

Darian Hagan, an offensive assistant and former Buff football player also denied the accusations.

“As a teammate of those players mentioned in the story, not only do I not have any knowledge of this, I also seriously doubt that any of it is remotely true,” Hagan said. “If it were, over the course of 20 years, someone somewhere would have said something.”

Bill McCartney, a former teammate, agreed that, if this were true, it would have come out sooner.

“It seems absurd to me that nothing like this has surfaced for 20 years, and now suddenly there are rumors and innuendo concerning members of a team that was so close-knit, and I’m referring to both players and coaches,” McCartney said. “I absolutely never heard anything anywhere close to this at the time or in the 20 years since until today. It’s really hard to respond to or dignify this when nothing has surfaced before now.”

Current CU students had similar reactions, and doubted the credibility of Luchs and the story.

“It’s interesting, but why did it just come out now rather than later in the 1990s or early 2000s,” said Michael Odbert, a 20-year-old junior computer science major.

“I feel that’s pretty dishonest,” said Sean McGill, an 18-year-old freshman film studies major. “People shouldn’t lie and be shady and do these under-the-table deals. But, if he really was a good agent he wouldn’t need all this under-the-table stuff to recruit players.”

The article includes the names of 30 former football players who supposedly accepted money from Luchs. According to the article, eight players confirmed to Sports Illustrated that they accepted money, seven players confirmed knowing Luchs, but did not comment on the allegations and five players fully denied all or parts of the claims.

McGhee released a statement today denying the allegations through the office of agent Peter Schaffer.

“I emphatically deny ever taking money from Josh Luchs or breaking any NCAA rule whatsoever,” McGhee said. “I cherish my time at the University of Colorado and have never done anything to disparage the school, the athletic program or my teammates. I did not even meet Josh Luchs until after I was drafted in the NFL.”

According to the SI article, Joel Steed responded to SI to deny the alleations, saying that he never took money from Luchs. Greg Thomas did not respond to SI to comment on the allegations.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Isa Jones at Alexandra.i.jones@colorado.edu.

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